Color Chart: Audi TT (Mk1) Launch Palette

Back in 1999, the arrival of the Audi TT was nothing short of momentous. Audi had shown concept car versions of the car, an Auto Union inspired sports coupe with clean Bauhaus design and Porsche 356-like proportions, and in five years brought it largely unchanged to production based on the Volkswagen Group’s transverse so-called A-architecture. The car very quickly garnered instant design icon and rockstar status, so bringing it to market successfully was key for Audi. It’s in that context we consider this color chart.

What you see here are scans from one of the U.S. market launch year catalogues for the TT. Even with the catalogue, the TT creatively broke from the normal and traditional catalogue designs of the Audi brand and tried something fun, with a sketch of the front of the car on the cover and pierced with large holes where the launch color palette could be seen.

Nowadays, there are more popular colors in the Audi exclusive range, but some of them like Nimbus Grey still make an appearance in current models. Interestingly, though perhaps the best known of colors or shades on those early Audi TT models since it was featured on the TTS concept and often paired with iconic baseball glove stitched leather seats, Nimbus Grey is not seen on this color chart.

And, for those seeking significant yet obscure historical colors as they finalize their specification on a new car, we wanted to bring each of these to the fore.

MY2000 launch year colors for the TT seen here include:

Brilliant Black

Lake Silver Metallic

Denim Blue Pearl Effect

Amulet Red

Trapper Yellow

Talisman Green Metallic

Desert Green Pearl Effect

Aviator Grey Pearl Effect

Raven Black Pearl Effect